After talking with this lady, it turns out she actually lives about 2 minutes from us! She was just visiting her family for the holiday as well! Hoping to get to know her better :)

The kids made friends quickly and played all day long!

I like this pic because it shows all the kids engaged with our friends. Kylie is in the kitchen and Colt and Caden are helping wash some vegetables.

One of the “grandpas” had caught this baby horned owl the day before. Colt had JUST finished the book “Owls in the Family” about a little boy who had 2 pet horned owls, so this was beyond cool for him. He wanted to catch one too and keep it as a pet. Thankfully, we didn’t find one.

The kids helped use hammers and mallets to beat these wild leafy plants (mugwort is English) to a pulp, which we used to make some food pictured later.

This was a good activity. . . swinging hammers around :)

Kylie helping and taking some lessons in the kitchen.

David had to take a nap. He said that bed was the hardest thing he has ever laid down on His nap also didn’t last long since the kids were right outside his door banging leaves with their hammers.

Washing washing. . . a lot of work goes into making food here. It was pretty warm that day, so the kids were pretty much just playing in the water I think.

Exploring! The kids loved having free roam of this little village. We would just call them when it was meal time. Of course they would hear us, but anyone knew where they were at any given time too.  Everyone’s homes were open door policy, just come and go as you please, sit and talk. It was really neat :)

This was our dinner table. Kind of different from the ones in the States, huh? How low can you go? Getting ready to eat!

This was finished product of all the leaf smashing pictured above. The mugwort leaves were mixed with some sticky rice flour and brown sugar, then steam on some leaves They have a bitter/sweet taste kind of like unsweetened tea.

A good pic of the red around the doors and the blessings that they put up with each Chinese New Year. They will leave it up year round. Many have used it as a conversation starter because it’s very similar to the Passover blood of a Lamb, right?

Little helpers. .

Everyone was taking advantage of the sunshine!

Another tradition of this holiday is to make zongzi. It’s a sticky rice mixed with chestnuts, meat, and millet all wrapped up and steamed in bamboo leaves. They made it look so easy, but I could not get it right when I tried!

Cooking the zongzi (pictured above)

Caden helping in the kitchen too. You can see the simplicity of this home.

Kylie LOVED it there. She especially loved helping with all the food.

Don’t want to leave out this pic . . .